WINTER WEATHER, 6A
PANTHERS ADVANCE Parkview girls headed to Final 4 after OT win against Osborne • Sports, 1B
North Carolina hit with surprise snowfall
Gwinnett Daily Post WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2015
www.gwinnettdailypost.com
75 cents ©2015 SCNI
Vol. 45, No. 97
PATH TO EXECUTION By Tyler Estep
tyler.estep @gwinnettdailypost.com
It was Feb. 20, 1997, when Kelly Gissendaner’s husband was found. He was slouched over his knees in the mud and the leaves. Jeans stretched tight over his backside, a T-shirt and work jacket — “ProFormance Shocks” — were creeping up his back. There was a bloodstained pay stub, and a black vinyl wallet stamped with Dale Earnhardt’s iconic No. 3.
His glasses were caked with mud. Kelly Gissendaner’s husband, bludgeoned with a nightstick and stabbed repeatedly in the neck, had been left in the woods near Dacula’s Luke Edwards Road. His body had been picked over by wildlife. Two weeks before he was found, Doug Gissendaner had been murdered by his wife’s boyfriend. She’d convinced one man who loved her to kill another. *** Kelly Gissendaner —
whose execution was scheduled for today but may be postponed due to Kelly weather — Gissendaner was born into a poor cotton-farming family, a clan represented in court documents as having more than its fair share of drunks and woman beaters. If there is truth to See PATH, Page 8A
Kelly Gissendaner’s time on death row nears end Clemency decision yet to be made, but execution may be postponed By Tyler Estep
tyler.estep @gwinnettdailypost.com
ATLANTA — Winter weather may have bought Kelly Gissendaner a few more days. The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles held a clemency hearing Tuesday for Gissendaner, who was convicted of
arranging her husband’s 1997 murder in a wooded area near Dacula. After listening to statements from those for and against her death sentence being commuted, they postponed making a decision until today — the same day Georgia’s only female death row inmate was scheduled to be executed.
WINTRY REMIX
Key word: Was. Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter told the Daily Post on Tuesday night that the Georgia Attorney General’s Office informed him that Gissendaner’s execution — if it goes forward — would likely be See DELAY, Page 10A
‘I lost everything’ Efforts underway for state senator after fire By Joshua Sharpe joshua.sharpe@gwinnettdailypost.com
Sugar Hill resident, Heeok Kim, goes for a jog on a path in Sims Lake Park on Tuesday in Suwanee. Most of Gwinnett County got a dusting of snow early on Tuesday morning as a winter storm moved through the area. More winter weather is expected to be in the area into Thursday. (Staff Photo: David Welker)
Gwinnett expected to see 3 to 5 inches of snow today By Joshua Sharpe
joshua.sharpe @gwinnettdailypost.com
The dusting Gwinnett County residents woke up to Tuesday might not have been the last of it. Residents can expect between three and five inches of snow to accumulate starting this afternoon and evening, according to the National Weather Service in Peachtree City. “Snow amounts could be pretty significant,” meteorolo-
gist Carly Kovacik said Tuesday afternoon. “It’s probably going to cause a lot more impacts than what we had this morning.” Kovacik said numbers on how much snow fell on the county Tuesday morning weren’t available. She said attentions at the National Weather Service had turned to what to expect today, when Gwinnett could have issues with snow-covered roads and other complications from the cold snap. She said Gwinnett was being added to a winter storm warn-
ing, likely for late afternoon today, when precipitation levels are expected to begin climbing, into the evening. Gwinnett schools officials were monitoring the situation Tuesday. Any decision on the weather today will likely factor in that elementary and middle schools are planned to dismiss two and a half hours early because of parent-teacher conferences. Thursday will also be an early-release day for elementary and middle schools. Late Tuesday night, Georgia
Gwinnett College announced that it would be closed today. County government officials met Tuesday morning to discuss the coming weather and planned to talk again in the evening to prepare a response, according to Joe Sorenson, Gwinnett communications director. Sorenson said the county had dozens of employees who could help combat the winter weather, as well as stockpiles of salt and sand for road treatment at sites in Lawrenceville, Grayson, Buford, Duluth and Lilburn.
Residents and political players are rallying around state Sen. Curt Thompson after a Monday afternoon fire ripped through his home, destroying his belongings and killing several pets. Neighbors reported the blaze at Thompson’s Tucker-area home just before 3 p.m. while the Gwinnett Democrat was at the Capitol in Atlanta. By the time he and his roommate arrived, Thompson’s Saint Bernard Stein Curt Thompson and three cats — Rosie, Nieves and Miss Kitty — were gone, as were his bird and fish. The fire is believed to have started in the basement of the two-story home and been accidental, according to the county fire department. Thompson, a lifelong Gwinnett resident, broke the news in a post on Facebook. “I lost everything in the way of personal belongings I own,” he wrote Monday night, “but I’m safe.” He went on to thank a host of people he said had already helped him in his time of need, including neighbors, friends and Senate colleagues. His page was in turn flooded with messages of support. Within hours of the fire, wellwishers began donating to an online fundraising site (www.gofundme.com/curtsfirerelief) set up for Thompson, who practices law in the Norcross area. The site was created by the leader of a political strategy and marketing firm, Seth Weathers. The Republican said Thompson’s situation hit home because of an arson at Weathers’ grandfather’s house years ago.
See THOMPSON, Page 10A
Cops seek suspect, witness in Peachtree Corners pedestrian hit and run was struck by a fourdoor passenger car in front of the QuikTrip gas station at 3229 Peachtree Police believe both the Corners Circle, accordsuspect and a possible ing to Gwinnett police witness in a hit-and-run spokesman Cpl. Deon accident early Sunday Washington. morning in Peachtree “The passenger veCorners fled without hicle left the scene imhelping the injured mediately following the victim. collision,” Washington A person, whose iden- said in a news release tity hasn’t been released, Tuesday. “The pedesBy Joshua Sharpe
joshua.sharpe @gwinnettdailypost.com
trian received serious injuries from the collision.” The police department’s accident investigation unit is looking for the suspect and the possible witness, who was a taxi driver in a newer model Honda Civic. The hit-and-run suspect’s car was described as a champagne or white four-door with
dark tinted windows and should be damaged on the front bumper, hood and windshield. The decal on the taxi driver’s passenger door appears to be in an oval pattern with red or orange writing. Anyone with information is asked to contact the accident investigation unit hotline at 678442-5653.
Police on Tuesday released this photo of the vehicle of a possible witness, left, to a Peachtree Corners hit-and-run accident on Sunday morning. The vehicle of the suspect, accused of leaving an injured pedestrian in the parking lot of a QuikTrip gas station, is shown on the right. (Special Photo)
gwinnettdailypost.com
INSIDE Ask Amy..........4A
Crossword......6B
Lottery............ 4A
Perspective.....7A
Classified........7B
Horoscope......4A
Nation............ 6A
Sports.............1B
Comics............6B
Local.............. 2A
Obituaries.......8A
Weather..........4A
Stay connected with the Daily Post online, where you can submit news tips, browse photo galleries and sign up to receive headlines digitally at gwinnettdailypost.com/newsletter. Send us engagements, wedding, births or anniversaries under “Submit your news” on the home page.